DAN GERMAN BLAZER, M.D., M.P.H., PH.D.

Address:     Box 3003, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710

Email:         blaze001@mc.duke.edu  

Telephone:  (919) 684-4128     FAX (919) 684-8569   Date of Birth:  2/23/44   

Current Position: J.P. Gibbons Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Vice Chair for Education and Academic Affairs.  He is a Professor of Community and Family Medicine at Duke and Head of the University Council on Aging and Human Development.  He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina. 

Education:        B.A. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, 1965 (Biology)

                        M.D. University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee, 1969

                        MPH University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 1979 (Epidemiology)

                        Ph.D. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 1980 (Epidemiology)  

Training:           Straight Medicine Internship - University of Tennessee, 1970

                        Psychiatry Residency - Duke University, 1973-1975

                        Fellowship in Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry - Montefiore Hospital, 1975-1976

Following nine years in academic administration (two as Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and seven as Dean of Medical Education at Duke University School of Medicine) Dr. Blazer returned to teaching, research and practice in July of 1999.  From September 1, 2002 until August 30, 2003 he was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies of the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

He is the author or editor of 30 books, author or co-author of over 160 published abstracts and over 325 peer-reviewed articles.  He is also the author or co-author of over 150 book chapters.  Many of the book chapters and scientific articles are on the topics of depression, epidemiology, and consultation liaison psychiatry, especially with the elderly.

Dr. Blazer has been the principal investigator on many projects funded by federal grants; state grants and grants funded by private foundations.  Most of these research projects have focused on the prevalence of physical and mental illness in the elderly such as the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Project and the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly.  He has served as the Principal Investigator of the Duke University EPESE, the Piedmont Health Survey of the Elderly.  Funded by the NIA, the PHSE is a multi-site research effort designed to:  1) determine the prevalence of physical disorders and functional impairment in community older adults, 2) determine the degree of which persons suffering from physical and psychiatric disorders are receiving health care services, 3) identify the personal and demographic characteristics associated with the illness and impairment and utilization of services, and 4) identify barriers to health service utilization. He is funded to continue secondary data analysis of these data.  Dr. Blazer also is the Principal Investigator of the Data and Statistical Coordinating Center for the Clinical Trials Network of the  National Institute of Drug Abuse.

Among the honors received by Dr. Blazer are the receipt of a Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, listing in WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA, WHO's WHO IN AMERICAN MEN AND WOMEN OF SCIENCE and THE BEST DOCTORS IN AMERICA, receipt of the Honored Teaching Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, fellowship in the American College of Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association, and a membership in Delta Omega.  He was elected as a faculty member to the Duke chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha (honorary medical society), received the Alex Haley National Award in 1985 for his work in gerontology, was selected for the Distinguished Alumni Award at the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina in 1989, received the Jack Weinberg Award from the American Psychiatric Association in 1992, received the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry Senior Investigator Award for 1994, the Milo Leavitt Award from the American Geriatrics Society for Life Contributors to education in geriatric medicine in 1997, the Pioneer Award in Geriatric Psychiatry in 2000, and the Rema LaPouse Award from the American Public Health Association in 2001, the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in 2003 and the First Annual Geriatric Psychiatry Research Award from the American College of Psychiatrists in 2004, and the Kleemeier Award for lifetime contributions to gerontological research in 2005. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences in 1995 and chaired the membership committee from 2005-2007.. Dr. Blazer is listed in ISI’s among the highly cited investigators in the social sciences and psychology/psychiatry.

Dr. Blazer was a member of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Review Committee at the NIH and served as its Chairman from July, 1988-June, 1989.  He is a past Chairman of the Board and President of the American Geriatrics Society and past President of the Psychiatric Research Society.   He has served on many editorial boards, including the American Journal of Psychiatry. He is co-editor of Aging and Mental Health. He was a former member of the Council on International Affairs and the Council on Aging of the American Psychiatric Association.  He was a member of the Psychiatry Test-Writing Committee of the National Board of Medical Examiners and a Councilor of the American Psychopathological Association.  He served as a member of the Board of Directors of Retired Persons' Services (AARP pharmacy service) and currently is a Board member of the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry. He chaired the Committee for the Institute of Medicine review efforts of the Department of Defense to provide adequate medical care to Persian Gulf War Veterans and the IOM committee on Testosterone Replacement Therapy in the Elderly and chaired the IOM committee on Genes, Behavior, and the social environment.  He is Past President of the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry

Dr. Blazer is married to Sherrill Walls Blazer (a teacher) and is the father of a thirty-seven-year-old son (Trey, a surgery resident) and a thirty-four-year-old daughter (Natasha, a social worker).  He is a former medical missionary to the United Republic of Cameroun.         

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

  1. Blazer DG, Sachs-Ericsson N, Hybels CF: Perception of Unmet Basic Needs as a Predictor of  Depressive Symptoms Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults. Journal of Gerontology:  Medical Sciences, 62A: 191-195, 2007

2.   Blazer DG, Hybels CF, Fillenbaum GG:  The Metabolic Syndrome Predicts Mobility Decline in a Community-based Sample of Older Adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society,  54:502-506, 2006 

3.   Riddle JR , Smith TC, Smith B,  Corbeil TE, Engel CC, Wells TS, Hoge CW,Adkins J, Zamorski  M, Blazer, D, For the Millennium Cohort Team.  The 2001-2003 baseline prevalence of mental disorders in the US military reported by the Millennium Cohort. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology,  2006 

4.  Sachs-Ericsson N Blazer DG: Racial differences in cognitive decline in a sample of community dwelling older adults: The mediating role of education and literacy. American Journal of Geriatric  Psychiatry,13:968-975, 2005 

  1. Blazer DG, Sachs-Ericsson N, Hybels CF: Perceived Inadequate Basic Needs Predicts Mortality in a Biracial Elderly Community Sample. American Journal of Public Health 95: 299-304, 2005.
  1. Blazer DG, Hybels CF: What Symptoms of Depression Predict Mortality in Community Dwelling Elders?  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 52:2052-2056, 2004.
  1. Blazer DG, Fillenbaum GG, Gold DT, Burchett MB, Hays JC. APOE e4 as a predictor of subjective quality of life in a biracial elderly community sample.  Journal of Aging and Health  15(4):645-60, 2003.
  1. Blazer DG: Depression in late life: Review and commentary. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences , 2003.
  1. Blazer DG: Self-efficacy and depression in late life: a primary prevention proposal. Aging and Mental Health 6:319-328, 2002.
  1. Blazer DG, Bruce B. Burchett BB, and Gerda G. Fillenbaum GG: APOE {epsilon}4 and Low Cholesterol as Risks for Depression in a Biracial Elderly Community Sample.  American    Journal of  Geriatric Psychiatry 10: 515-520, 2002.
  1. Blazer DG, Hybels CF, Pieper CF: The association of depression and mortality in elderly persons: A case for multiple independent pathways.  Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences 56A:M505-509, 2001.
  1. Blazer DG, Landerman LR, Hays JC, Grady TA, Havlik R, Corti M: Blood pressure and mortality risk in older people: Comparison between African Americans and Whites. J Am Geriatr Soc  49:375-381, 2001.